On the 28th of June, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip. The shooting gave Austria-Hungary a reason to attack Serbia and then on the 28th of July war broke out. The assassination was a main part in the build up to the war. Whilst it certainly caused an outbreak, there are also other grounds on which WWI began, such as alliances, the Schlieffen plan and militarism. Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Bosnia, an arrangement of alliances plunged the leading powers into a war that lasted a total of four years. There were two main Alliance’s leading into WWI, the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary. Germany first made an ally with Austria-Hungary …show more content…
The German army officer Alfred Vagts described militarism as the ‘domination of the military man over the civilian, an undue preponderance of military demands, and an emphasis on military considerations. ” Militarism fathered an unsafe child called the ‘arms race.’ The arms race pushed European nations to prepare, develop and modernise their military services. Robust armies and navies were required to support the homeland and to frighten threats and rivals. War was to be avoided where possible but it could also be used to advance a nations political or economic interest. War was considered by all powers a practical decision. Back then war was about the strongest against the weakest. Germany put together their armed forces through conscription. There were new and dangerous weapons used in WWI including barb wire and machine guns and the men hid in trenches during battle. The machine guns were light and shot bullets faster at the enemy. The arms race caused tension between different nations as some were frightened of the modernised warfare and most nations began gearing up for